fferent from the _collegia
tenuiorum_ or _funeratica_ of the Romans, which were societies to which
the members paid stipulated sums at stated periods, for funeral benefits
or for common meals (J.P. Waltzing, _Corporations professionnelles chez
les Romains_, i. 313). It represents the charitable centre round which
the parochial system developed. That system was adopted probably about
the middle of the 3rd century, but in Rome the diaconate probably
remained centralized. At the end of the 4th century Pope Anastasius had
founded deaconries in Rome, and endowed them largely "to meet the
frequent demands of the diaconate." Gregory two hundred years later
reorganized the system. He divided the fourteen old "regions" into seven
ecclesiastical districts and thirty "titles" (or parishes). The parishes
were under the charge of sixty-six priests; the districts were
eleemosynary divisions. Each was placed under the charge of a deacon,
not (Greg. _Ep_. xi. and xxviii.) under the priests (_presbyteri
titularii_). Over the deacons was an archdeacon. It was the duty of the
deacons to care for the poor, widows, orphans, wards, and old people of
their several districts. They inquired in regard to those who were
relieved, and drew up under the guidance of the bishop the register of
poor (_matricula_). Only these received regular relief. In each district
was an hospital or office for alms, of which the deacon had charge,
assisted by a steward (or _oeconomus_). Here food was given and meals
were taken, the sick and poor were maintained, and orphan or foundling
children lodged. The churches of Rome and of other large towns possessed
considerable estates, "the patrimony of the patron saints," and to Rome
belonged estates in Sicily which had not been ravaged by the invaders,
and they continued to pay to it their tenth of corn, as they had done
since Sicily was conquered. Four times a year (Milman, _Lat. Christ_,
ii. 117) the shares of the (1) clergy and papal officers, (2) churches
and monasteries, and (3) "hospitals, deaconries and ecclesiastical wards
for the poor," were calculated in money and distributed; and the first
day in every month St Gregory distributed to the poor in kind corn,
wine, cheese, vegetables, bacon, meal, fish and oil. The sick and infirm
were superintended by persons appointed to inspect every street. Before
the pope sat down to his own meal a portion was separated and sent out
to the hungry at his door. The Roman _plebs_